The Cleveland Public Schools will soon be giving students sample tests in core subjects to find weaknesses in various subjects. The aim is to give schools and parents several months to improve student achievement before real tests are given in the spring. ideastream's Lisa Ann Pinkerton has more.
Every student from grades 3 through 10 will take sample tests in reading, writing, science and math this fall. The district hopes to pinpoint subject areas where students are falling behind and focus classroom time and tutoring there. Cleveland Schools CEO Eugene Sanders says this information will also be computerized, so it can follow students from one school to another, year after year.
Eugene Sanders: One of the challenges we face in urban districts is great mobility. So this particular instructional strategy allows the student to now have his pure academic program uninterrupted.
Sanders hopes this individual and targeted approach will improve student test scores on the real state proficiency tests taken in the spring. Lisa Ann Pinkerton, 90.3.